Cooler for hot lump goods,particularly cement clinker



Patented Nov. 10, 1970 I 3,539,164

/N VE N TOR Kl MZZQriBnz hi/QJRSN ggyayfam 8% 3,276,755 10/1966 Bast inventor Kunibert Brachthi-iuser Ranzel, Germany Appl. No. 720,169

Filed April 10, 1968 Patented Nov. 10, 1970 Assignee Kliickner-Humboldt-Deutz Aktiengesellshafl Cologne-Deutz, Germany a corporation of Germany Priority April 22, 1967 Germany K 62,082

COOLER FOR HOT LUMP GOODS, PARTICULARLY CEMENT CLINKER 788,330 4/1905 Reilly 110/165X 1,506,936 9/1924 198/39 1,941,561 1/1934 34/242 2,891,321 6/1959 34/174 3,007,424 11/1961 Walker 110/101 Primary Examiner-Frederick L. Matteson, Jr. Assistant ExaminerHarry B. Ramey Attorney Singer, Stern and Carlberg ABSTRACT: A cooler for lumpy material, such as cement clinker discharged by a rotaryfurnace, comprising a horizontally extending; housing through the lower portion of which moves a horizontal transportation grate through which cooling air is forced upwardly. At one end of the housing is formed a vertical shaft into the upper end of which the material to be cooled is introduced. A vertical transverse wall within the housing and spaced from one'end wall of the housing forms a part of the shaft walls and extends downwardly toward the movable transportation grate. This transverse wall is vertically adjustable or is pivotally mounted at its upper end or may consist of a number of horizontal sections hingedly connected with each other by vertically spaced horizontal pivot joints so that the slot formed between the lower edge of the transverse wall and the upper face of the transportation grate is adjustable for adjusting the height of the pile of material formed in the stack and to be cooled.

COOLER FOR HOT LUMP GOODS, PARTICULARLY CEMENT CLINKER The invention relates to a cooler provided with a ventilated transportation grate and adapted to be used for hot lump goods, particularly cement clinkers.

in known grate coolers of this type the cooling air is passed in a substantially transverse stream through the material deposited on the grate. A portion of the heated air is subsequently conducted to a furnace there to be used as combustion air. Since the layer of material on the grate is uneven and of small height, the contact between the cooling air and the material to be cooled is only of a short duration. Consequently. the amount of heat transferred from the material to the air is relatively small and the heat recovery is accordingly limited.

The object of the invention is a device for increasing the amount of recoverable heat. This object is accomplished in that an adjustable vertical transverse wall is arranged in the intake shaft of the cooler housing which wall terminates a short distance above the horizontal transportation grate and forms together with three other vertical walls of the cooler housing a vertical cooling chute or shaft into the upper end of which are introduced the goods to be cooled. The cooling shaft formed in this manner effects a damming up of the hot material introduced into the upper end of the shaft. The cooling air is then passed through the material in the shaft in an upwardly directed counterflow whereby it comes into contact with the hot material for a relatively long period of time, thereby absorbing a great amount of heat.

According to another feature of the invention, the transverse wall is mounted to be pivotable about a horizontal axis. By pivoting this wall the height of material accumulated in the shaft may be controlled.

The transverse wall may advantageously also be made of individual portions which may be pivoted or slidably displaced with respect to each other.

In addition to controlling the height of the accumulated material in the cooling shaft, the pivotable transverse wall makes it also possible to remove big interfering lumps of material from the cooling shaft. For this purpose the invention according to another feature provides push openings in the upper region of an outer wall of the cooling shaft. The openings are conveniently provided with pushing devices the plungers of which are mechanically moved into the interior of the intake shaft. By means of these pushing devices coarse lumps ofmaterial in the cooling shaft may be reduced to a size such that they may readily pass through the opening between grate and transverse wall and be discharged from the cooling shaft. They may, however, also be pushed out of the openings produced by the individual portions of the transverse wall that were pivoted away.

These and other objects of the invention will further be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, the single FIG. of which is a sectional view of a cooler according to the invention.

Referring to the drawing, a rotary cylindrical furnace I having a burner 2 is arranged in communication with a horizontally extending cooler housing 3. Within the housing 3 is arranged a horizontal transport grate 4 in a plane spaced below the rotary furnace. This grate 4 is operated from outside by an eccentric or crank drive 5. Below the grate 4 are arranged horizontally aligned chamber 6, 7 and 8 which are in communieation with blowers by way of cooling air duct's not illustratcd.

Above the grate 4 and in line with the vertical wall which separates the chambers 6 and 7 from each other is arranged in the housing 3 a vertical transverse wall 9 which terminates at a distance above the grate 4 and forms together with the three other walls of the cooler a vertical cooling shaft H), the upper end of which is in communication with the right-hand end of the rotary furnace l. The transverse wall 9 consists of three pivotally connected sections ll, 12 and 12' and with its upper end is pivotally mounted on a horizontal shaft 13.

The outer wall of the cooling shaft 10, namely the front wall 10, is providedin its upper region with a push opening 34 through which a plunger 15 may be moved mechanically into the interior of the shaft. There are also provided two vertically spaced downwardly inclined air inlet openings 16 and 17 in the shaft wall 10' below the push opening 14.

When in operation the chambers 6 to 8 receive cool air from the outside. The cooling air delivered to the chambers 7 and 8 passes upwardly through the grate 4 and the material deposited thereon and is removed by suction from the housing 3 by way of a chimney 18. The cooling air delivered to the chamber 6, however, flows counter to the direction of flow of the material introduced by the furnace 1 into the shaft 10, namely in an upward direction, and thence is conducted as secondary air into the rotary cylindrical furnace l. The amount of this cooling air is so adjusted that it corresponds to the amount of secondary air necessary for the operation of the furnace. In the event that this amount of cooling air coming up from below through the grate 4 is not sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the furnace for secondary air, then additional air may be blown into the shaft 10 from the outside through the openings 16 and t7.

The cooling air passing through the material piled up in the shaft 10 remains in contact with the hot material for quite a long period of time due to the great height of the layer of material and thus is able to absorb considerably more heat than it is the case in cooling devices known heretofore, and this increased heat content will eventually benefit the combustion process in the furnace.

The height of the layer of material in the shaft 10 may conveniently be controlled by pivoting or vertically displacing the transverse wall 9 or only the lowermost section 11 thereof.

There may also be provided a measuring and control device for keeping either the height of the layer of material cooled in the cooling shaft constant or the flow resistance ofthat material by controlling the speed of the transportation grate 4 at a uniform rate of cooling air.

In the event that for some reason suddenly large incrustation scales are passed from the furnace i into the cooling shaft 10, the latter may be provided with a further measuring and control device which effects an automatic moving of the transverse wall or of sections thereof into a position which is illustrated in the drawing in dashed lines in order for these coarse disturbing pieces to readily leave the cooling shaft 10. The transverse wall 9 may be pivotably moved by means of an electromotor arranged outside the cooler and connected to the shaft 13. Large'lumps of material in the cooling shaft 10 may be broken up by the plungers 15 of the pushing device and reduced in size so that they may escape through the opening between the grate 4 and the lower end of the transverse wall 9, or they maybe discharged through an opening produced by moving the wall section 12'.

lclaim: I

1. ln apparatus for cooling hot cement clinkers emerging from the discharge end of a rotary cement kiln, housing means forming a horizontal chamber below the level of said discharge end of the kiln and also forming a vertical chamber having its upper portion in communication with said discharge end of the kiln and its lower portion in communication with one endof said horizontal chamber the other end of which is provided with a'discharge opening and a chimney, a transportation grate forming a bottom wall in said horizontal and vertical chambers, means for moving said grate longitudinally of said horizontal chamber, a normally vertical wall unit extending transversely of said horizontal chamber at the junction thereofwith' said vertical chamber andhaving its bottom edge at a level above said grate so as to form with the other side walls of said vertical chamber a vertical shaft of substantially uniform cross section extending downwardly from said discharge end of the kiln to said level above the grate, pivot means at the top of said wall unit supporting said wall unit for pivotal movement about a transverse horizontal axis, and a plurality of cooling air supply chambers horizontally aligned below said grate and separated by substantially vertical partitions one of which is disposed in alignment with said pivotally mounted wall unit to define one of said air supply chambers in a location straight below said shaft, whereby a discharge opening from said vertical chamber to said horizontal chamber is formed between said grate and the bottom edge of said wall unit and cooling air from said one air supply chamber is preheated for use as combustion air in said kiln by being passed upwardly through clinker materialaccumulating in said shaft to a height greater than the height of said discharge opening from the vertical chamber.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which said wall unit comprises a plurality of superimposed sections connected in pairs for pivotalmovcment about parallel horizontal axes.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1. including a plunger, and means mounting said plunger for reciprocal movement transversely across said shaft for breaking up any large lumps of clinker material therein.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, including cooling air supply means in the wall ofsaid vertical chamber for supplying auxiliary cooling air for passage through accumulating clinker material in said shaft to said kiln. 

